State-by-state comparison of donations to state house campaigns

In addition to the votes cast by members of the U.S. Congress, trends and preferences across the country can be viewed by comparing the information from individual states. The role of money in politics can be gauged not only with respect to federal elections but also with state elections. The differences between states suggest that money is a much larger part of the campaign culture in some states than in others. Where that money comes from, be it parties, individual donors, or corporations, also hints at the varied opinions of the electoral process across the nation. Simultaneously, trends can be seen by noting the presence of similar interest groups in many states.

This page details summary data of campaign contributions which can be used to compare trends on a state level and across states, as well as over time. This information can be used to study the effects of parties, unions, corporations, candidates, individuals, or other types of donors on policy outcomes in states. Additionally, it can be used to study similar interests or donors within the country as a whole. For example, state-specific associations of professional groups such as realtors associations or trial lawyers associations appear among the top 10 campaign contributor lists in many states.

The top 10 contributors per state as well as the total candidates and campaign contributions per year came from the website Follow the Money. Additionally, that site lists the top 20 contributors for state house elections as well as the categories donations are placed in. The aggregation and comparison of information across states was done by Ballotpedia writers.